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Friday, 28 December 2012

My apologies to anyone seeking enlightenment and entertainment on the blog this week - Erin has written a terrific post and sent it to me for uploading, but I'm unable to complete the mission at this point. I'm holidaying in the South Island, and despite being overloaded with every possible kind of travelling technology - iPad, smartphones, laptop, digital cameras - I don't have the right version of Word to open the file Erin sent, so I can't upload it!

I may be able to acccess the file using another computer that DOES have the right version of Word in a day or so, in which case I'll get the post online for you.

In the meantime, enjoy the silly season between Christmas and New Year and I'll catch you later!

Friday, 21 December 2012

Hi everyone, welcome to the New Age! Now that all this
end-of-the-world rubbish has been kicked to the kerb we can get on with
planning for an exciting New Year in 2013.

The pace of change in the publishing world is still increasing.
This year saw the Big Six continuing to struggle with their outdated business
model, and I suspect the now Big Five will not find things any easier next year
unless they embrace radical change. The successful business model in tomorrow’s
publishing is a small, nimble company (or individual) who can produce good
quality books quickly and economically, and promote them to their target readers
using a variety of techniques and channels. Here are some of the options to consider.

The way to achieve meaningful sales – which for New Zealand
authors means ebooks and POD – is to have an active online platform. That doesn’t
mean you have to spend weeks figuring out how to use your website, Twitter,
Facebook, Pinterest, a blog, LinkedIn, AND a dozen other channels and then sit
on your computer for hours a day tweeting and posting to all of them. It does
mean that you need to actively engage with strangers online in whatever channel
you are comfortable with, exchanging comments, asking questions, and
contributing useful information to be shared. Or even reposting some good jokes
now and again! All of that gets your name out there and establishes you as a
recognised source of good content. And you'll make some good friends.

Many quite ordinary writers have started a blog, posted such good content
that they’ve gained a large following, and then gone on to become world
authorities in their field. The potential is there for any of us with talent and determination to do the same.

Now that the world seems set to continue for a while, I
think making the effort will be worth it. World literary domination in 2013? Who’s with
me?!

Wishing all our blog readers a happy and stress-free
Christmas and apocalypse-free New Year.

Wednesday, 19 December 2012

As a child I had the good fortune to
live overseas in Brussels and London. This was in the early ‘70s, and memory of
World War II was very much alive. In London, particularly, visible evidence of
the war was everywhere. As a result, when I returned to the U.S., I had a
completely different appreciation of the war than my American classmates.

Evelyn Pothron, a long-time Alameda resident, also has a
different view of World War II. In July I939, her parents Emile and Alice
Pothron, naturalized American citizens, traveled to their native France for a much-needed
six-week vacation. It would be four years before they would return to the
United States with their daughter Evelyn.

In a harrowing, yet uplifting account, New Zealand author Jenny
Harrison tells the story of the Pothrons’ ordeal; the separation of a family;
life in a German prisoner of war camp and the unimaginable nightmare of living
at the whim of occupying Nazi soldiers.

The majority of the story centers around Alice and Evelyn.
As a result of an extraordinarily difficult childhood, health problems had left
Alice in despair of ever having a child.

When it is discovered that Alice is expecting a miracle
child, the family makes the fateful decision to remain in France until the baby
is born. It is this decision that places the family in harm‘s way when the
invading Nazi forces arrive at their doorstep. Emile, conscripted into the French
military and subsequently captured, is unable to protect his family.

When circumstances become life threatening, Alice, who has
been forced to feed and house a unit of Nazi soldiers, makes the courageous decision
to escape to freedom, a journey that will endanger their lives many times. At
the journey’s end is a miraculous reunion and return to the United States that
will eventually bring the family to Alameda. The incredible strength that Alice
shows in the face of such adversity is an inspiration for all of us.

This story held me in its thrall from beginning to end. When
I had to put it down for those daily inconveniences like sleep and work, I thought
about it. I spoke to friends and co-workers about it.

One afternoon, as I worked at my desk, a petite elegant woman
came in to the office. I realized instantly that she was Evelyn, the tiny tot
who had walked away from the Nazis.

If it hadn‘t been for her extraordinary mother, I would
never have met this lovely, soft-spoken woman, and find out the rest of the
story. The measures to which this mother went to save her family would eventually
shorten her life.

Many years later, Evelyn’s retelling of her mother’s story
to a fellow passenger on a cruise — author Jenny Harrison — led to this book.

Evelyn's wish for the book was to teach her grandchildren just
how fortunate they are. That’s a wish I’d like to share with us all.

Friday, 14 December 2012

‘On my holidays my mother sent me to stay with Auntie Beral. I
didn’t know Auntie Beral very well. She was skinny and tall and had spectackles
that keeped on rolling down her nose and she keeped pushing them back up her nose
with her thumb. Her eyes looked like they were on a escanlater.

On the first day
we played Snap and I won all the games.

On the second day
we had pikelets and treacle and cheese for lunch and I was sick on her carpet
square and she showed me how to wash up the sick.

On the third day
we went out to see her friend Eva Cramps and I had to call her Auntie Eva Cramps
and we had scrambled egges for lunch and they were so runny they ran all over
the table cloth.

Friday, 7 December 2012

My sister, an avid reader, has difficulty
in reading standard-size print in published books. Because of this she has
turned to large print editions and to talking books. She has found limited
choice of reading material available in both of these forms, and New Zealand
authors are rarely represented.

Having
heard her complain about the lack of choice afforded other readers I checked
out our library’s data bases and found the range of materials available
uninspiring.

A visit to the larger bookstores drew a blank.
When I approached staff members and asked where I might find the large print
section, puzzled faces met my inquiry.

"We don't
have any."

"Why
not?" I asked.

A shoulder shrug and backing away from me was the
common response to this fractious question, as the assistants slunk away. I left
wondering why in our society where equal opportunity is a priority, bookstores
did not see a need to cater to those whose sight was failing.

I
got to thinking then, whether the so-called literary world knew what the
reading public wanted.

Do
they ever ask the reading public?

My
examination of the written materials stocked in store showed the focus to be on
cookbooks, how to do, life stories of sportspersons, fancy stationery and what
I would class as knick-knacks; the gutsy stuff was in short supply.

In
these hard times when every opportunity to draw customers is a bonus, I would
have thought large print books and talking books in bookshops would have been a
must. Books in many differing genres, written by New Zealand authors, are readily
available from independent publishers. Letsbuybooks.weebly.com, and Amazon are
sites where titles may be viewed.

Why
not encourage libraries and bookshops to visit these sites and to stock these
works?